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“Over time, the county commission has become more and more beholden to the people who do business with the government,” Levine Cava told Ladra. “That pushes out every day people.”
Levine Cava might be able to raise more, but some would-be donors are worried of what might happen to them should Bell pull a miracle out of her, um, hat. “Many people are afraid to contribute and that includes people I’ve known an who I consider friends,” Levine Cava said.
You might even see some attorneys giving to both candidates. “They give to her because they feel they have to for their business, but they give to me because they thought I was worth it,” Levine Cava said.
“The path to victory is based on the money we have and based on the money we will be able to raise in the six weeks left,” Levine Cava told me, adding that her campaign may count more on the grass roots ground game.
Related story: Mark Bell’s Homestead loss ripples over to wife Lynda Bell
We do know from recent past elections — Alex Sink vs. David Jolly, U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor vs. David “Who?” Bart and eventually Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter vs. 
Mark Bell, the commissioner’s husband, who she went all out for last November — that the better-funded candidate is not always the one having a real party on election day. Levine Cava knows that, too. “Obviously, money cannot buy you victory.”
Maybe not. But it can buy your more video ad attacks, more TV time, more radio seconds, more push polls, more paid canvassers and more postage for more mailers.
“We don’t need to raise as much money as she has to run a campaign,” Levine Cava said. “And this is proof of the reason I’m running in the first place. The people that benefit from the county contracts are the ones that contribute to the campaigns. ”
The extra push of $104,000 may mean that Bell’s supporters are getting worried about the Cava’s climbing campaign momentum
Or it could just be the month that her fundraiser, Brian Goldmeier — who works for a couple of other commission candidates — dedicated his time to her. The new rules of reporting contributions monthly has sort of changed his game and forced him to focus on different candidates on different months.
We’ll know in about a week. Now that we are within the 60 days of the primary, the reports become bi-weekly and so the next report is due July 11. And we have another report this month — due the day before absentee ballots go out — and four more to look forward to in August.
That’s a lot of reading.
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Bell vs. Levine Cava race churns cash toward $1 mil mark added by Ladra on
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